Bears Blitz

Published by Big Chil on December 14, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are sitting pretty at the moment in the number two spot in the NFC playoff bracket, despite New England‘s 36-7 pasting of them in Chicago on Sunday. 

The current National Football Conference standings are as follows:

1.  Atlanta Falcons (11-2) NFC South

2.  Chicago Bears (9-4) NFC North

3.  Philadelphia Eagles (9-4) NFC East

4.  St. Louis Rams (6-7) NFC West

5.  New Orleans Saints (10-3) * WILD CARD

6.  New York Giants (8-4) * WILD CARD

For practical purposes, the Green Bay Packers have been eliminated from divisional contention and will be competing for a wild card.  (See Green Bay Packers: Will They Make the NFL Playoffs?)

The real race of interest to Bears, Giants, and Eagles fans, is who will wind up the No. 2 seed, and get the first-round bye in the playoffs?  If Atlanta wins the division, they only need 12 wins to guarantee no worse than the number two seed, and a first-round bye, and they get Carolina at home in Week 17.  New Orleans needs to win the division title and get to 13 wins to guarantee a first-round bye over the NFC North and East. 

Currently the Bears (9-4) lead in the race for the No. 2 seed by virtue of their victory over NFC East leader Philadelphia (9-4).  Curiously, the Giants are also 9-4, and would be ahead of the Bears if they were leading their division by virtue of their 17-3, 10 sack pasting of the Bears in Week 4. 

Fortunately for Bears fans everywhere, Philadelphia leads the Giants by virtue of their 27-17 Week 11 victory. 

How will the No. 2 seed play out? 

Atlanta, in the NFC South, will win the No. 1 NFC seed.  The NFC West is currently led by 6-7 St. Louis, which can do no better than the number four seed.  That means it’s a battle between the NFC North (Bears) and the NFC East (Eagles, Giants) for that coveted No. 2 seed and first-round playoff bye. 

The remaining schedules are:

Chicago Bears

Week 15: @ MIN

Week 16: NYJ

Week 17: @ GB

Philadelphia Eagles

Week 15: @ NYG

Week 16: MIA

Week 17: DAL

New York Giants

Week 15: PHI

Week 16: @ GB

Week 17: @ WAS

These are all tough schedules.  Each team faces two others still in the playoff hunt.  If all records come out equal, the Bears will stay on top.  The key will be the Philadelphia-New York game.  If the Giants win, and move into first place in the NFC East, they will own the tiebreaker over the Bears by virtue of their early season win, and the Bears would have to finish a game ahead of them. 

If the Eagles win, as long as the Bears keep pace and tie the Eagles at season end they will get the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. 

The Bears are looking pretty good for a 2-1 finish, knowing that a win at Minnesota puts them within a win or Packers loss of winning the NFC North. (Green Bay Packers: Will They Make the NFL Playoffs.)  The Vikings and Jets are very winnable games for the Bears. 

Eagles at Giants.  Who can say?  The Giants have won three straight, and the Eagles two straight since their defeat at Chicago.  The winner of this game wins the NFC East. 

If Philly wins, they’ll need to out-win the Bears by one game in order to gain the No. 2 spot, and they have the advantage of finishing the last two weeks at home. 

If New York wins, they’ll only need to tie the Bears in order to gain the bye. 

The Bears can’t do the Packers any favors, but the Packers can do the Bears a favor by beating the Giants while keeping their own playoff hopes alive.

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